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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25775998">Put that fucking thing back where it came from, or so help me God-</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kara_luna/pseuds/Kara_luna'>Kara_luna</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>My Naruto Tumblr Because I Don't Actually Have One [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Attempt at Humor, BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF Hatake Kakashi, BAMF Tsunade (Naruto), BAMF fucking everyone because I love them all and they are my babies, Comedy, F/M, Fluff, Haruno Sakura-centric, Humor, Kakashi keeps his sharingan, One Shot, Post-Canon, Post-War, Romance, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, kind of</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:08:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,921</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25775998</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kara_luna/pseuds/Kara_luna</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chakra is fucking weird, all right? </p>
<p>Sakura's studied it for years along her road to becoming the successor Tsunade deserves, taking shifts at the hospital, joining in on Anbu missions as a combat medic, helping Naruto pass the Chunin exams (Kami, wasn't that the worst month and a half of her life)... All of it bringing her a better understanding of chakra's inner workings as well as the bounds of her ever diminishing patience. </p>
<p>She's seen men blow each other up with silly putty, a guy who lived in a giant cactus, and even people with eyes that can create portals to other dimensions, all with chakra... But this?</p>
<p>This is a first. </p>
<p>Also, Tsunade touches things that glow and have warning signs plastered everywhere, Sakura finally realizes that suppression is not a healthy coping mechanism, and something fucking weird is going on with Naruto and Sasuke (and Sai) that Sakura wasn't around to see.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi, Sai/smugness, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>My Naruto Tumblr Because I Don't Actually Have One [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869940</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>153</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So. I hate myself for writing this and two other one shots, plus the other two I've posted already before this one, while I'm supposed to be working on that big project I keep mentioning. For people following either "Some choices are only meant to be made once," "Being lost to be found,"or "Chaos Theory," then you know what I'm talking about here. For everyone else, I paused those three longer fics that are gonna be like 75,000 words when I'm done with them each, to start (and hopefully finish) a new big story project that's trying out a new style of writing for me and is already 70,000 words and will probably end up more than 100,000. </p>
<p>This is not that project. This is a random, weird thought I had at 4 in morning before leaving for my 6 hour shift at a store I hate, so I don't fucking know what this is but it is NOT meant to be taken seriously in ANY way. Just fun, random fluff for you to enjoy after the mess that was Naruto's ending. </p>
<p>Enjoy ';)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s a unique situation to begin with. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Chakra has always been an interesting and mysterious concept that people can only hope to fully understand. No one knows why exposure to one person’s chakra can burn skin while another can feel wet to the touch.  </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Therefore when she, the Godaime Hokage, is approached by this random man, a </span>
  <em>
    <span>civilian</span>
  </em>
  <span>, who had in his possession one of the Sage of Six Paths tools, she couldn’t just lock it away without even </span>
  <em>
    <span>using it </span>
  </em>
  <span>first. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>For science of course. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I have not allowed shinobi to touch it since I realized what it was... I didn’t wish for anyone to get hurt… it is quite dangerous…” The man mumbles, hovering over Tsunade’s shoulder like a persistent gnat. Sadly, throwing people out solid glass windows is only okay when said person will survive it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It seemed benign as long as no chakra was pushed into its surface, a small figurine of a faceless man just large enough to fill her palm. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Resting her elbows on her desk, she regarded the nervous man wringing his hands. The amount of sweat beading on his forehead brings her a mix between pride and satisfaction. No matter how many times that fox brat calls her old, she’s still got it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Amber eyes stare the poor soul down as Tsunade picks him apart piece by piece from his balding head to the polished leather of his shoes. She can practically </span>
  <em>
    <span>hear </span>
  </em>
  <span>her anbu guards’ amusement from their hidden perches, no doubt delighting in her annoyance. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wonderful. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What exactly does it </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” She drawls with a raised eyebrow. The merchant mops his brow with a handkerchief as he responds with the quivering tone she’s already coming to despise as much as Minato’s brat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s meant to work as a way of meditation. It’s not a weapon if that’s, if that’s what you are worried about.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Worried…” She muses as her fingers glide over the smooth, polished metal of the tool, appearing to be in pristine condition despite its age. “I wouldn’t call it worry.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course, of course, Lady Hokage, I mean no offense.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Oh joy, he’s kowtowing and bowing profusely again. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s when dealing with people like this, Tsunade’s comforted by the knowledge she has a full cabinet of liquor waiting for her later. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Hopefully Shizune hasn’t raided her secret stash again. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re fully aware that by handing in a ninja tool with unknown abilities, holding immense amounts of power, you won’t be getting this back, correct?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yes, I was almost robbed three times in the last month I have had it. I have no use for such danger attracting wares, I assure you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ah… not greedy, cowardly instead. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A smile spreads over her dark lips, a twinkle in her eye, she’s about to have more fun than she’s had in two decades.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In another part of the village, Shizune shudders from a sudden wave of foreboding hitting her right as she’s about to take a bite of her second dango stick. Carefully, she sets the stick back on her plate, and rests her head in her hands where it’s been finding itself more often than ever these days. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now she’ll be spending the rest of her break waiting for the inevitable anbu to arrive and relay to her that Lady hokage has once again:</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<ol>
<li><span>Punched Naruto through a mountain. (Something that would be quite impressive, saying as Naruto’s not due back from his mission for another two days.)</span></li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<ol>
<li>
<span>Found the alcohol that Shizune tried so hard to hide from her. (You know what?! This time, </span><b>Sakura </b><span>can babysit the 50 year old alcoholic with super strength.)</span>
</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<ol>
<li><span>Remembered Jiraiya’s existence. (Not that he’s in the village, not that he’s peeping on the bath houses, just that he exists in general.)</span></li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<ol>
<li>
<span>Decided that being Hokage was overrated and, in a drunken haze, proclaimed Tonton Rokudaime hokage before escaping half way to Wave. (It’s the anbu’s job to watch over the hokage, </span><b>damn it.</b><span>)</span>
</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She prepares herself for a series of migraines also known as her colleagues. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Bound at our core (love screaming to belong)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s not what Sakura would like to be doing on her one day off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted </span>
  </em>
  <span>to start on her newest mystery novel about the murder of an heiress, a secret prince, and a battle for the kingdom’s throne that would have entertained her for hours. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(Maybe she would have even gotten some uninterrupted sleep)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course, that isn’t what happened because the world fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>hates </span>
  </em>
  <span>her, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>whatever. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It’s fine, she’s fine, it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>all fine. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kakashi raises an eyebrow at her, and Sakura flushes at the realization that she’s emitting very palpable waves of killing intent in the middle of the Hokage’s office. She could be arrested for that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She won’t be because she’s Sakura and Tsunade would drown in booze if she wasn’t there, but she still </span>
  <em>
    <span>could be. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Kakashi, the bastard, just looks vaguely amused from what she can see of his face, unconcerned as always despite all the very loud emotions going on in her own head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If there’s one thing in the world she wants to borrow from him, it is undoubtedly his patience because kami knows she’s got none of her own. Oh, and his literally kage level abilities, those would be pretty awesome too. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She digresses. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... For the last time, brat! You’re not allowed to touch it until </span>
  <em>
    <span>after </span>
  </em>
  <span>I tell you how to use it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Annnndddd Naruto gets bashed over the head with another super strength addled fist because he can’t keep his hands to himself. Rubbing her forehead, Sakura asks the world for that patience she still doesn’t have and drags Naruto’s limp body back to their team. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sai just watches her dump him on the ground at his feet, big, black eyes completely blank. And then…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was unaware you preferred it rough, Dickless.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Whup, </span>
  <em>
    <span>there it is. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakura doesn’t even attempt to stop Naruto as he tackles Sai clear to the ground, and then Sasuke - because he’s Sasuke and he can’t resist the opportunity - joins in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm. The first step to getting help is accepting you have a problem, Dobe.” He mocks, parroting back the exact words she, and the rest of their academy class, has been repeating to him since he was finally detained and forcibly dragged home in chains. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Naruto launches himself at Sasuke like a feral cat, Kakashi smoothly side steps without as much as glancing up from his book, idly turning a page as Shishou bangs her head repeatedly into the desk. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Honesty, it kinda makes Sakura want to punch him in the teeth and bite his lip all at the same time and isn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>a clusterfuck </span>
  <em>
    <span>no one </span>
  </em>
  <span>wants to touch with a ten foot pole. If anyone else but her and inner knew about it, that is. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Ohhh~ Ino would </b>
  <b>
    <em>never </em>
  </b>
  <b>let you forget it! </b>
  <span>Inner giggles savagely and Sakura shuts </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>down </span>
  <em>
    <span>real</span>
  </em>
  <span> quick. Believe it or not, being mind fucked by a sharingan a thousand different times actually builds up your mental skills quite a bit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lucky her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly and without warning, the floor honest to Kami </span>
  <em>
    <span>shifts </span>
  </em>
  <span>beneath her feet and Sakura loses her balance, careening sideways in a tangle of limbs. She collides with something soft and big, and cracks an eye open to see a </span>
  <em>
    <span>too close </span>
  </em>
  <span>masked face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She can feel herself going strawberry red to the roots of her hair and can’t even care enough to do anything but rest her forehead on his chest and groan loudly. Whatever just happened is giving her a pounding headache she can feel to her toenails. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The chest under her stutters gently as he </span>
  <em>
    <span>laughs at her. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She tries to stomp on his foot. He dodges easily and moves his hands from her shoulders to hook onto her waist and pull her forward. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Squeaking, wow that’s embarrassing, the entire length of her body collides with him, face to throat, chest to chest, thigh to- </span>
  <em>
    <span>oh. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thigh to </span>
  <em>
    <span>thigh, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and all that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Kakashi, what the-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shhh… Something’s happening behind you I’m not sure you would like to see.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Full stop. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakura goes completely stiff in his arms. The floor tilts beneath their feet again and her fingers grab onto the closest, steady object, which happens to be his shirt. Sue her, she wants to live alright? Earthquakes have never been her thing despite how many of them she causes daily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She feels pretty sea sick actually, the floor tilting again and again in shorter and shorter intervals. Nauseously she presses her face closer into his throat and tries her best to count to ten. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>One. </b>
  <span>Naruto’s muffled screaming rings out from the other side of the room. She clenches her eyes shut and ignores it. She trusts Kakashi. If there’s a giant, horrible monster or something that’s gonna make her puke, she trusts that he wouldn’t let her see it. Right? She trusts him…?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Two. </b>
  <span>Now Sasuke’s cursing somewhere to her left and something just slammed into the wall. Probably him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Three. </b>
  <span>Someones laughing and it’s definitely Tsunade.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Fou- </b>
  <span>Oh fuck it!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakura shoves away from Kakashi and twists quickly before he can yank her back. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>feels </span>
  </em>
  <span>the blood drain from her face in the same beat fingers twist in the hair at the back of her head and pulls her face back into his chest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsunade grinning manically with a glowing talisman in her hand. Tsunade. With. The. Talisman. The exact fucking one she was telling them about before she and Naruto got into another one of their </span>
  <em>
    <span>squabbles and that she said was immensely powerful and dangerous and that it glows when activated and she wants to try it out and oh kami-</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna puke, Kashi. Like actually puke. Everywhere.” She chokes, squeezing her eyes shut against the awful rocking of the room that's become constant. Sai holding a cursing Sasuke from tearing Naruto apart as said blonde screams in the corner of the room, legs and arms wrapped around a bookcase, is </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely not </span>
  </em>
  <span>helping her not lose her lunch right now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She groans again. Acid rises in the back of her throat and she swallows it down with a grimace. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You won’t, just relax. Try and focus on me instead. Don’t think of the floor moving, think of how steady I am under your hands and how sturdy you're being held.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakura gets what he means, she really does. He means that the floor is unsteady because it’s moving and he’s not because he’s staying in one place, but good kami could he have worded it differently?! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her face burns for a completely different reason and she groans again in actual mortification at her reaction. At her </span>
  <em>
    <span>body’s reaction. </span>
  </em>
  <span>So not the time, Sakura. His nose brushes the shell of her ear, and Sakura freezes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh no. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She completely forgot that Hatake’s have heightened senses. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh no. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He can </span>
  <em>
    <span>smell her. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She buries her face deeper into his jacket and the floor feels like it’s tipping almost completely ninety degrees and how Kakashi is staying upright is beyond her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If she’s lucky he didn’t notice. But then again, when is her life </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever </span>
  </em>
  <span>lucky? Whatever, she can die of embarrassment later, right now she needs to focus on keeping the food she can feel in the back of throat right there and not in her mouth or on the man holding her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>would be mortifying. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rocking stops abruptly. Sakura hesitantly waits for a few seconds, counting to make sure it doesn’t start again, and when she reaches twenty, gentle separates herself from Kakashi. His grey eye is fixed on something behind her head when she glances up at his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She blinks, surprised, at the second exposed eye, red and lazily spinning, that’s also looking over her shoulder. She will never admit it to </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone, </span>
  </em>
  <span>but she wouldn’t mind seeing </span>
  <em>
    <span>his </span>
  </em>
  <span>sharingan when she wakes up each morning. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And isn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>a thought that she’ll be burying for forever. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakura pulls away completely from him before she can do anything else embarrassing and he glances at her quietly before returning his focus. Sakura steels herself nervously before turning slowly to see what monster is waiting behind her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She blinks dumbly at the pond in front of her, shimmering and clear, set in lush green grass and surrounded by a circling treeline. The trees themselves are equally ethereal in their beauty, towering over her head as if never ending, blocking out the night sky beyond them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh and there’s that too. It’s night time now. The sky splattered with freckled stars and moon that’s full and whole and </span>
  <em>
    <span>white, </span>
  </em>
  <span>which is beyond relieving to see. The pond really does look gorgeous, the bank looking too much like a storybook to be real and water devoid of seaweed or waste. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The water’s merely clear, right down to the smooth pebbles at the bottom. If she waded into the middle, it would probably reach to her chin. It would probably reach to the hollow of Kakashi’s throat. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Nope, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she shuts down that thought immediately, </span>
  <em>
    <span>nope nope nope. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her feet almost move on their own, as if there’s a string around her waist tugging her forward. The grass is impossibly soft between her toes (where did her shoes go?), and the bending green strands are hypnotizing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The dainty song of grasshoppers in the brush harmonizes with the breeze rushing through her hair and Sakura feels at peace, all her prior nausea and apprehension and nervousness evaporating like smoke. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s when her fingers reach to skim the surface of the lake, that long fingers wrap around her wrist and pull her back firmly but with gentleness that brings her back to herself. There’s no way it was anyone but Kakashi, not with that sturdy softness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The sight of him behind her sets off alarm bells in her mind in the same moment it makes her shoulders slump. His eyes are studying the pond still, and he makes no outward reaction to her stepping closer to lean against his shoulder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s been her anchor in more ways than one since the moment she met him, and if there’s one thing she needs as the alarm bells screech for her shishou and teammates, it’s an anchor. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A safety blanket, really. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She stays totally still as his hand begins to move on her wrist, calluses scraping along her flesh as his fingers slide between hers. Not a perfect fit, but his thumb curves over her pinkie to accommodate the mass of scar tissue on her knuckle from her first solo mission and her middle finger tucks into the divet from catching a katana bare handed back during the war between her ring and middle finger. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Which war, she’s not quite sure. Another reason to hate the child she once was, how she didn’t pay enough attention to Kakashi before everything went to hell. That she didn’t notice the crease in his mask when they passed a cemetery or the look of guilt when Sasuke spoke with far too much hate and far too much darkness for someone so young. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She hates that every detail wasn’t catalogued in her mind from the start, the way she knows that Kakashi did for her. The man who has literally saved her life more times than she can count, who was never much of a teacher but became one hell of a friend, who taught her how to hold the lightning he summons because she can’t wield it like he can, who apologized and forgave her when </span>
  <em>
    <span>she </span>
  </em>
  <span>apologized for all the shit they put each other through because </span>
  <em>
    <span>kami- </span>
  </em>
  <span>there was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Sakura maybe, kinda, sorta loves him a little bit for that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Loves him a bit for how he’s stroking the back of her hand like she’s the most important thing at the moment and how he can make her feel so safe in a situation where they could be about to die. Where their friends could be dead, or they could be stranded in another dimension, or </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually already</span>
  </em>
  <span> dead for all they know. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But he still makes her feel safe. And isn’t that </span>
  <em>
    <span>something special?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you think happened?” She whispers, strangely adverse to the idea of shattering the tranquil quiet despite how she was almost fucking lured into a pond by some kind of weird hypnosis that made her mind cloudy and mouth taste like cotton balls.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If I had to guess… A similar effect as to the sharingan’s ability to transport someone into either their own mind or the mind of someone else.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And who’s mind do you think this is?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kakashi cocks his head to the side, watching her with blood and steel colored irises. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(Beautiful) </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This was the Sage of Six Paths’ tool, was it not? Perhaps this is a world he created using his own memories and thoughts before he died, memorializing it in a physical object.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakura considers that for a moment. Tsunade </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>said the merchant told her it was used for the purposes of meditation, and this </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>a very relaxing place (though, Kakashi’s steady base is far</span>
  <em>
    <span> far </span>
  </em>
  <span>more calming) that could be used for meditation, hypothetically. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But why go through all this trouble for something as simple as meditation? Why not do something </span>
  <em>
    <span>more </span>
  </em>
  <span>with the ability to-” Sakura’s cut off by Kakashi’s hand over her mouth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She glares at him. He watches her back placidly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He gestures towards the pond again. And Sakura’s a bit disappointed in herself so far. She would have normally noticed the glowing vine-like white light growing from the pond (if she hadn’t been distracted by the way the moonlight was casting Kakashi’s hair in a flare of winter fire and stardust). </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s tendrils continue through the air, up towards the sky, splitting off into more and more branches. The “stem” stops growing right as it brushes the grass perhaps a foot before them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then it blooms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakura jumps back and by the sudden emptiness by her side, Kakashi’s done the same too. In a flare of leaves and smoke, she reappears at his shoulder by the tree line. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t we just hide in the trees until this is over and that </span>
  <em>
    <span>thing </span>
  </em>
  <span>is gone?” She asks, eyes fixed on the orbs of light swirling from each bloom like pollen in the breeze. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We have no idea if we can even pass the trees. If this is a meditative mindscape, there’s a limit to the scope of its size. The tree line makes a fairly realistic boundary, don’t you agree?” He drawls with something like amusement, as if the exploding fire fly plant is </span>
  <em>
    <span>funny. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She slaps him in the arm without chakra and he doesn’t even have the common courtesy to flinch. So ungentlemanly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look.” His fingers grasp her chin and steer it towards the top blossom, the one that grew straight up from the water. At the top there’s a single pair of large orbs rather than the hundreds of tiny flecks of light that had erupted from the others. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t think…?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That they’re somehow made of chakra? I think that’s a fairly good hypothesis.” He gestures loosely to the orbs again and Sakura leans forward a bit to make out what he’s talking about. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’s about to ask him what he means, when it clicks. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One orb is a startling blue that fizzes with, almost, electricity on its surface. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The other’s a soft green like morning dew, the sides reflecting light as if covered with water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re mimicking our chakra natures.” She breathes wonderously. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kakashi doesn’t replay. He doesn't need to. The way the two orbs are floating off the bloom and towards the grassy bank says enough for the both of them. They’ve barely grazed the top of the first strand of grass, gently bending the tip just slightly, when they shudder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then they grow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakura can’t take her eyes off them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They shimmer and shudder and reform, shifting and whirling like a water jutsu taking physicality. It’s beautiful. It’s like nothing she’s ever seen. And it’s most likely dangerous, though she can’t find it in herself to be scared, so she settles for cautious. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The larger orb stretches into four legs and a long, thick tail, a snout and ears, and when the figure shakes, the orb dissipates with a puff of lighting sparks and pollen spray. A wolf the color of moonlight is left behind. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Sakura’s eyes are only for the other, the pink mist and water droplet spray left behind as a poodle with fur like cotton candy trots forward from the pond. She, because Sakura instinctively knows that the poodle is a she, is fearless as she bounds up to her, primly sitting in front of her feet as if a perfectly trained pet. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The wolf, on the other hand almost makes Sakura choke to death on her laughter, as it full out tackles Kakashi to the ground, playfully bitting and gnawing at his arms and legs. Kakashi glares at her jokingly as she giggles, content with the well behaved poodle at her side and watching him rough house the wolf off of him so he can stand again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The wolf, a he for sure, bounds around Kakashi with lowered haunches, growing happily. But it’s when the wolf spots her poodle that Sakura’s left speechless. He pushes right by her like she’s an obstacle and noses her poodle gently as if he hadn’t just bowled down a full grown man a moment ago. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And the poodle? The well behaved and gentle poodle? She growls like a newborn mouse and bears her little canines to a </span>
  <em>
    <span>wolf </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>jumps him. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Sakura watches them roll about the ground, shocked for a lack of a better term. The poodle showing a wildness Sakura hadn’t realized a poodle was capable of, and the wolf, a gentleness she </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely </span>
  </em>
  <span>knows he shouldn’t be cap-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And everything clicks again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re us.” She says bewildered. “They’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>us.” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kakashi, still brushing torn grass and specks of dirt from his sleeve glances up at her. He smiles and it sets off a warm trickle of honey through her body. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I suppose we’ve found the point of this meditation tool, then. A way to confront ourselves in a physical way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakura just raises her eyebrow at him, acting all philosophical while his animal counterpart is being mauled by a cotton candy pink poodle in the background. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When the word tilts on it’s axis again and Sakura’s bodily thrown into Tsunade’s bookcase, she can’t even be that angry about her newly earned bruises. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The memory of a poodle and wolf gives her the nonsensical urge to smile like an idiot, despite the collection of books she has scattered around her and the bookcase still pinning her to the floor. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sasuke and Naruto are both beat red and silent, Sai watching them with the closest thing to a smirk he’s even capable of, and her shishou’s watching the three as if waiting for them to break any moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kakashi approaches the mess she’s currently a part of and lifts the book case off of her so she can wiggle free. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could probably have just used her super strength but </span>
  <em>
    <span>details. </span>
  </em>
  <span>The point is, Kakashi’s offering her and a hand up from the ground, and he’s smiling gently behind his mask, and his eyes are crinkling slightly at the edges and- </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s making her fall in love with him all over again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The bastard. </span>
</p><p> </p>
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